Divisional round picks

Last week: 4-2
Season record: 164-98

What a weekend of football in the wild card round.  Not only was it wall to wall games from noon central on Saturday until late Sunday night, but every game was exciting in one way or another.  There was a lot of retirement talk when it came to Drew Brees and Philip Rivers, as meanwhile Tom Brady keeps looking no different than at any time during his career--while he will be 44 when the 2021 season kicks off in September.  We saw Taylor Heinicke (!) spark the WFT to put the fear of God in Brady, and then we saw the Browns exorcise 18 year old demons by jumping all over the Steelers early and hanging on for dear life.  

So now we head to the divisional round, aka the best football weekend of the year.  Of course, now that there are six games in the wild card weekend, these two rounds are equally exciting.  With that, let's pick these games.....

LA Rams at Green Bay--We hear a lot about the Rams defense, and what we hear mostly are the names Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey.  Then we hear in the same breath about how toothless their offense is.  That's fair, especially with Jared Goff expected to match up with the likes of Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers.  But will the Packers be able to stop RB Cam Akers, who rolled up 131 yards and a score in Seattle?  In Green Bay on Saturday afternoon, there will be weather that these Rams are not used to--at least cold, and possibly snow.  Also, that vaunted Rams D will face a bigger test this weekend, as Rodgers has absolutely torched his last few opponents.  Packers 26, Rams 17

Baltimore at Buffalo--Two of the game's best QBs will square off Saturday night in Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, and it's hard not to be excited about this one.  Buffalo has a legit Super Bowl contender for the first time in 25 years.  Baltimore came close to missing the playoffs after a midseason swoon but Jackson is back at full strength and always dangerous, while the Bills' only loss since October 19 was the Hail Murray game in November; otherwise they'd be riding 11 straight wins.  Lamar got his first playoff win on Sunday, but it's hard to imagine him repeating that feat in Buffalo.  Bills 33, Ravens 30

Cleveland at Kansas City--Did you catch yourself, like I did, saying "great win over the Steelers, but the Browns have no chance against KC?"  But it's hard to say that now.  The Browns' Baker Mayfield appears to have evolved into Brett Favre 2.0 right before our eyes, and Cleveland's defense has the ability to fluster Mahomes the way Gruden's Raiders did and the way the Browns did against Big Ben.  Still, these are the defending champs we're talking about.  Chiefs 37, Browns 28

Tampa Bay at New Orleans--Many people have always wanted a Tom Brady-Drew Brees Super Bowl, and while that can't mathematically happen while they are now in the same division/conference, having them meet with the winner going to the NFC title game is pretty freaking awesome too.  The only drawback will be having Joe Buck drone on and on and on and on about the age of these two guys and the historic nature of it all.  Man, that guy is as annoying as ever.  But oh yeah, the game......Bucs 35, Saints 34

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